Thursday, September 14, 2017

(CCRC) - UNSW: "In a recent study with Matt Huber, we showed that it doesn't take that many degrees of global warming to permit peak heat summertime heat stress to (occasionally) become unsurvivable, in many parts of the world that are currently highly populated."

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

guymcpherson.com: "According to James Hansen, the godfather of climate science, we’ve had humans on the planet up to about 2 degrees Celsius above the 1750 baseline, when the planetary temperature was about 13.5 C. Hansen reported this conclusion in a legal brief filed on August 12, 2015. I suspect 2 C above the 1750 baseline is the maximum temperature at which we will have habitat for humans on Earth. We’re currently at least 1.6 degrees above the 1750 baseline. No species persists long without habitat, not even the clever ones.
A synthetic paper written by Oliver Tickell and published in the Guardian on August 11, 2008 concluded via headline, “On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinction.” That 4 C number seems a tad high to me. The paper goes on to explain that humans will persist up to 6 C above the 1750 baseline, thus about 19.5 C. I doubt there will be a tree on the planet, or much other complex life, with a rapid rise to 17.5 C. But we don’t know, because we’ve never experienced Earth with humans at anywhere close to 4 C above baseline, much less at 6 C above baseline, about 19.5 C."

Monday, March 27, 2017

smh : "When Premier Gladys Berejiklian committed to a new tunnel under Middle Harbour this month, she did so without first inviting the public to express a view on the route, public transport alternatives, or the broader impact of the new road."

Friday, March 24, 2017

Herald Sun: "The AFL’s decision not to issue tickets for the free event at Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium has led to a major headache for the State Government, which usually allows people travelling to big events to ride free."

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Manila Bulletin News: "Deppeler said that the extinction of the phytoplankton would have significant consequences for the Southern Ocean habitat.

“They draw down carbon as they photosynthesize, and capture it in the deep ocean when they sink to the seafloor. The level of atmospheric carbon would be around 50 percent higher without the uptake provided by Southern Ocean phytoplankton,” she said.

“Changes to phytoplankton communities therefore could have significant implications for our environment and climate."

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Noosa News: "TENS of thousands took a free ride on the festive holiday buses, making use of the complimentary transport period unique to Noosa.

In its third year, the free holiday buses proved popular with more than 40,000 people choosing to use the free holiday bus during the 10-day period between Boxing Day and January 4.

...."They have enjoyed the benefits of leaving the car behind, and when the next peak period came around they opted for the bus again, instead of the car.

"These people have realised that it makes sense not to sit in a long queue of traffic and then spend ages looking for a park, often without success.

"While we can see we now have many locals getting into the habit of using the free buses during holidays, we really want to encourage even more locals and visitors to use buses and other non-car transport.

"This will help to reduce congestion into our main shopping, dining, entertainment and beach areas."

Monday, February 6, 2017

Climate Code Red: "The southwest Queensland town of Birdsville is forecast to reach 45-48 degrees from now until Thursday and could extend this run to 10 days by next weekend. This spell would smash the existing record of six consecutive days over 45 degrees from 2014 and 2004. Overnight minimums during this time should remain above 30 degrees, beating the 2012 record of six in a row. Birdsville's hottest day on record was 49.5 degrees on 24th January 1972."

Saturday, January 14, 2017

The Guardian: "Victorian government plans to work with a Japanese company to produce hydrogen from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley are “a way of making brown coal look green”, according to one expert.

The proposed plant, which would be run by Kawasaki Heavy Industries as part of their Kawasaki Hydrogen Road project, would produce liquid hydrogen that would then be exported to Japan to be used in hydrogen-powered vehicles."

Greens' Safe Climate Bill

Travelling with a light footprint
Australia's cities and suburbs are increasingly being built around cars, not people, and more of our intercity travel and freight is going by road or air instead of rail. In a world where peak oil and climate change are converging, this has to change fast.
We have to redesign our cities for people instead of cars, with urban villages connected by fast, efficient and convenient buses, trams and trains, cycleways and pedestrian paths. We have to give ourselves real alternatives to flying between cities. We have to end the subsidies to fossil fuel based transport. We have to think a few steps into the future, instead of repeating the same old mistakes of the past. ReadMore [pdf]